In terms of Alzheimer’s disease risk, individuals with lower levels of vitamin D were almost 70 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Those with a severe deficiency, on the other hand, were 120 percent more likely to go on to develop dementia.
The results remained consistent after adjusting for other known predisposing factors.
The study, David Llewellyn, of the University of Exeter Medical School in England, said: “We expected to find an association between low vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but the resists were surprising – we actually found that the association was twice as strong as we anticipated.